Education

Schools Revisit Security Plans After Connecticut Tragedy

by Peter Jon Shuler
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December 17, 2012 — 7:15 AM

Some Bay Area school districts are reviewing their security protocols for how to handle intruders who may pose a threat. The shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut on Friday unsettled district officials and parents.

Many school districts have elaborate procedures for protecting children and notifying police in emergencies. But Palo Alto Unified Superintendent Kevin Skelly says last week's tragedy shows a school can never take its security for granted. He says the district will revisit its current intruder alert system.

"We have signals that we use over the PA system," Skelly explains, "that alert staff to what’s going on and they have protocols that they do in the classroom to create as safe an environment as you possibly could."

Skelly says he’s convening his emergency preparedness team to see if there’s anything they can learn from the Connecticut shooting that would help strengthen safety for Palo Alto students.